


untitled

by LtTanyaBoone



Category: Pan Am
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-04
Updated: 2012-08-04
Packaged: 2017-11-15 08:38:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/525361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtTanyaBoone/pseuds/LtTanyaBoone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate gets to meet someone from Colette's past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	untitled

**Disclaimers:** Pan Am, the rights to the show and its characters do not belong to me. No money was made by this.  
 **Spoilers:** 1x03 _Ich bin ein Berliner_  
 **Pairing:** none

* * *

Kate reached up and took off her uniform hat, throwing it across the room to land on one of the chairs. There was a knock on the door and she furrowed her brows, turning around and going to open it. To her surprise, she found Colette standing on the other side, her luggage at her feet.

“Change of plans?” the French stewardess said and Kate rolled her eyes, grabbing the hat case and carrying it inside.

“Let me guess, Laura said the sounds from the street would be too loud?”

“Actually, it was Maggie who remembered that she was catching a cold and couldn’t sleep with an open window.” Colette laughed, shaking her head at the antics of the other two women. This was the third time they had ended up changing roommates for some reason or another in the last four layovers.

“Well, suit yourself.” Kate shrugged, gesturing towards the window. Colette smiled at her friend and went over to open it, inhaling the Parisian air as a soft smile played on her lips.

“Do you have any plans?” Kate asked her as Colette took off her uniform jacket and shook out her hair.

“Not really.” the other woman shrugged, starting to unpack her clothes to hang up her dresses.

“We could go exploring together.” Kate suggested, furrowing her brows as she read through the welcome sheet of the hotel to make sure they wouldn’t miss breakfast and could use the phone. “Laura stood me up, she and Maggie want to go to this nightclub you and her mentioned before, and I’m really not in the mood for loud music and drunk men.”

When she turned around, she found that Colette was staring at her empty suitcase, worrying her lip.

“Colette?” the redhead softly said. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, it was just an idea.”

The French woman shook her head and closed her suitcase, turning around to face her friend.

“ _Non_ , I was just… I think now would be a good time to show you that patisserie I mentioned.”

“The one you refused to give me the address for?” Kate tilted her head, surprised when Colette nodded. “Um, sure. Let me just freshen up a little and get changed and then we can head out.” the redhead nodded, disappearing into the bathroom. Colette drew a deep breath after the door had closed, closing her eyes before she shook her head resolutely. There was no reason to be nervous, Kate was a wonderful person and she’d understand. At least Colette hoped she would.

* * *

 

“ _A la mère the famille_.” Colette declared as Kate took off her sunglasses, admiring the little shop. The two women walked in, ignoring the doorbell.

“Now I understand why you kept this a secret.” Kate muttered, looking around and being amazed by how cute and familiar the patisserie was.

“ _Bonjour_.” the woman behind the counter greeted them, looking up from the notes she had been writing and her face lighting up instantly. “Colette!” she exclaimed, walking around the counter to hug the stewardess.

“ _Salut_.” Colette smiled at her, hugging her and exchanging kisses with her. “ _C’est mon amie Kate, elle est un hôtesse de l’air, aussi_.” Colette introduced Kate to the middle aged woman, who shook the other woman’s hand with a bright smile.

“ _Alors, je vous prépare quelque chose_.” the woman told them with a wink, disappearing into the back of the patisserie.

“Sit down.” Colette told Kate, pointing to the small tables. The redhead shook her head lightly before taking a seat.

“You know the owner?”

“Ah, _non_. Valentine does not own the shop, she just works here.” Colette shook her head. “She isn’t who I wanted you to meet, though.” the French woman added, interrupted by a squeal. She barely had time to stand before another woman ran into her, wrapping her arms around her tightly and breaking out into rapid French that was much too fast for Kate to follow, so the redhead contented herself with watching the two women.

Whoever the stranger was that had appeared, she seemed to be good friends with Colette. The stewardess was wearing a bright smile, one that Kate hadn’t seen since they had returned from Berlin. It had seemed like Colette had been followed around by some cloud of sadness, her smiles had been subdued and she had seemed somewhere else with her thoughts a few times, too. But now that lingering effect was gone, the French woman was chatting away, tugging gently on the other woman’s braid that she wore over her shoulder.

The other woman seemed younger than Colette, and aside from their hair color, they shared no physical resemblance. Her eyes were green and she had freckles, and an altogether youthful air about her that made Kate think she’d be a lot closer to Laura in age than to Colette or herself.

“Ah, Kate. This is Aletta. _C’est mon amie Kate_.” Colette turned to the other woman. Aletta’s eyes widened slightly and she shook Kate’s hand.

“ _Bonjour_.” she nodded, taking off her apron and sitting down at the table with Colette, smiling at Valentine when she brought over a few samples for them to try.

“Hello.” Kate smiled at her, casting a questioning look at Colette.

“Aletta and I grew up in the same orphanage.” her friend supplied and Kate felt the breath go out of her.

“Oh.” she breathed, swallowing thickly. “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t, didn’t expect that.” she stammered, but Aletta shrugged lightly.

“It is fine.” she assured her. “Colette looked after me until she left Chambord to fly around the world and live in sin.” Aletta winked at her friend and Colette actually blushed lightly.

“Of course they would say that.” she mumbled, shaking her head.

“So, you work here?” Kate asked, kicking herself for the question. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that, for the first time, Colette had not just dropped the name of someone from her past, but she had introduced her to a real person from it.

Aletta nodded, taking one of the samples and munching on it.

“ _Oui_. Colette helped me get the job.”

“I did not.” Colette immediately shook her head, to earn herself a glare from Aletta.

“If you had not sent me the money for the train and helped with the down payment for my apartment, I would still be stuck in Chambord. Listening to sermon after sermon.” the young woman told her, her green eyes wide. Colette inclined her head in defeat.

“Sermons?” Kate asked them and Colette sighed.

“The orphanage was run by nuns.” she supplied, making Kate gape at her before she let out a soft laugh, quickly covering her mouth.

“I’m sorry.” she apologized, still smiling. “It’s just… I never thought that you could’ve been raised by nuns.” Kate chuckled.

“Not what people expect, _non_?” Aletta laughed, squeezing Colette’s hand. “Then again, we rarely ever are.” she added, growing more serious as she looked at Colette, her eyes searching.

“We went to Germany. Berlin.” Colette told her, biting her lip before she shook her head. “It was a bad idea.”

Aletta remained silent for a while, staring at the table. “Sometimes I wonder if I would be better off if I had any memories. But then I look at you and Benjamin, and I think that I’m one of the lucky ones.” she softly said, tearing apart a napkin.

“You don’t remember your family?” Kate asked her gently, causing Aletta to shake her head.

“ _Non_. I was found wandering the streets after a raid. I was not even two years old; when no one claimed me, I was given to the orphanage. The nuns gave me a name and a shelter, something to eat and a bed to sleep in, but nothing they did made me talk. Until I was almost four and Colette started looking after me.” Aletta said, furrowing her brows.

Colette reached out and brushed a strand of hair from the other woman’s face, smiling at her.

“I have to go back to work.” Aletta muttered, rising. Colette hugged her tightly, muttering something into her ear that Kate didn’t catch, but the American saw Aletta’s hold tighten briefly as she nodded before letting go of Colette and turning to Kate.

“It was nice meeting you, Aletta.” the redhead said, shaking the younger woman’s hand.

“It was.” she grinned, taking her apron and disappearing into the back again, leaving Kate and Colette to themselves.

The American drew a slow breath, glancing at her friend and finding that Colette was swallowing thickly, her hands curled into fists.

“What do you say, I pick up a few of these for Laura and my mother and then we head back to the hotel?” Kate asked her, walking over and squeezing Colette’s shoulder. The French stewardess nodded in silent agreement, drawing a shuddering breath as Kate went over to the counter to pay.

* * *

“I’m sorry.” Kate muttered as they were back in their hotel room after having dropped Laura’s gift off with her.

Colette furrowed her brows as she sat down on her bed, taking off her shoes. “For what?”

“My reaction. On the plane, when we got back from Berlin.” Kate explained, drawing a slow breath. “The truth is, I don’t remember the war. What I do remember is that Daddy was gone, for a long time. Laura doesn’t even have that recollection.” she said, sinking into the armchair.

“Kate-”

“The thing is, we Americans don’t understand how it was for Europeans. All we had to worry about were our fathers, brothers sometimes, and uncles. But we were at home, save, with our parents and sisters and brothers if they were too young to fight, and our grandparents. But you, you had to fear for everyone, everything. Even your own lives. And it’s something we’ll never be able to understand.”

“I did not wish to make you feel bad-”

“You didn’t.” Kate quickly shook her head. “Really.” she assured Colette as the other woman gave her a skeptic look. “And it was great meeting Aletta.” she added, drawing a soft smile from Colette. “She must have meant a lot to you.”

“She still does.” Colette nodded, tugging on the comforter of her bed. “She was like my little sister, followed me around… I think I stayed in Chambord for as long as I did because I worried what would happen to her if I left completely.”

“Looks like she’s doing pretty well.” Kate shrugged, tilting her head. “Why didn’t she become a stewardess, too?” she asked, suddenly wondering about that. Aletta clearly spoke English, even though her accent had been a lot more pronounced that Colette’s was.

“She never went to college.” Colette told her, guilt written on her face. “I only managed because one of the nuns helped me, she sent me money, and it was still a struggle, but Aletta… she’s smart, but learning isn’t something that comes easy to her. And I could not spare enough money from what Pan Am pays me to pay for her education…” she trailed off with a shuddering breath.

“Hey.” Kate mumbled, walking over to her and sitting down next to her. She wrapped an arm around Colette’s shoulder and hugged her. “You’ve done a lot for her, more than anyone could have expected you to. And the important thing is that she’s happy, which to me she seems to be.”

“She is. Happy.” Colette nodded, reaching up to wipe a tear away from her face.

“See?” Kate nudged her. “And we’ll send all our passengers to that patisserie from now on.” she added, drawing a laugh from her friend.

“Oh yes, they will love that.” Colette nodded with a smile.

“Well, you were right after all. This is definitely the best one in Paris.” Kate smiled back at her.

_fin._

**Author's Note:**

> translations:  
> C’est mon amie Kate, elle est un hôtesse de l’air, aussi . – This is my friend Kate, she’s a stewardess, too.
> 
> Je vous prépare quelque chose . – I will prepare something for you.


End file.
